Three Wise Men,Whoops, my last posting got away from me - sorry about that. You had mentioned that, in your experience, judges pay their own travel and lodging expenses. I've run across competitions where the organizers DO pay for judges/scrutineers travel/lodging (and put up with some grumbling if the judges are asked to share rooms).As to your question: Is judging always fair? Of course not - and I beleive that I wrote in an earlier post that "life isn't fair." But I don't think that ALL judges are ALWAYS unfair just because they judge their own pupils. What do you make of this: If a judge has taught ALL six finalists, one of them has to be first and one has to be last, and some have to be in the middle. In that instance then, you might be happy to think that they are all squabbling among themselves as to favoritism and so in the end they get what they deserve. But in my life, ballroom judging and its imperfections just isn't going to keep me awake at night with worry.